repurposed.

While I haven’t been writing on my blog that much, I have been doing pretty fantastic things in my spare time. Like going to the contemporary ballet, playing for piano competitions, and dancing my feet off at the Spring Breakdown. (If you’ve never been contra dancing, then you’re missing out on a huge part of life!)
Most recently I completed this décor piece—an idea I got from pinterest.

When the opportunity arose to get some piano keys, I greedily snatched them up and promptly set to work. They were off an old upright that was made somewhere around 100 years ago—worn and yellowed with age and use. Their antiquity made them even more visually appealing (to my advantage.)

I used a coping saw to cut off the long wooden ‘arms’, sanded the ends, and lined them up in order. Fitting the keys together was like putting puzzle pieces in the right places—I had to number all 88 of them to keep them straight.
 

Lo and behold we had a useless board lying around that was the perfect size. Not only that--we also happened to have some black spray paint from leftover projects! Things like that need to happen to me more often…. It was a slow and painstaking process to line up the keys in order, place them in a straight line and glue them solidly to the board.
 

Finished product! It’s a quaint little wall piece (if I do say so myself.) I may have found an entrepreneurial opportunity as these things are selling for a pretty penny online. If you have any old pianos that aren’t serving any purpose----you now know where to send the keys! ;)